Wrestling arrived in Boulder on Jan. 10, as Jefferson High hosted a mixer with Anaconda, Deer Lodge, Manhattan, Three Forks and Townsend. A total of 70 matches provided plenty of action, and the Panthers masked Senior Night by honoring Eric Lufkin, Drake Schake and manager Josie Marks.
With a home crowd behind it, Jefferson came out on fire. The first round found Leo Anderson, Christian and Dominick Davis, Michael Mitchell, Eric Lufkin, Eli Reed, Talon DeMers and Dakota Dorn all having their hands raised for victories. But in the round’s final match, Coen Guisti was injured badly enough to require an ambulance. The Panther wrestlers lost their focus after that, and only the Davis twins, Anderson, Cody St. Clair and Drake Schake were able to secure second-round wins.
The next morning, the Panthers boarded the bus again and traveled to Choteau for a two-day tournament with 31 Class B and C teams. In the first round, Clara Lufkin and Gracie Olds were both eliminated at 132 pounds, while Mitchell at 120 pounds and Braeden Jones and Tyler Dryer at 145 pounds won their matches. In the next round, Anderson and Dominick Davis at 103 pounds, Christian Davis at 113 pounds, St. Clair at 120 pounds, Lufkin at 126 pounds, Reed at 138 pounds, DeMers at 160 pounds and Schake at 182 pounds all won to advance into the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Dominic Davis, St. Clair and Lufkin won to assure spots on the awards podium. Meanwhile, Jones and Dakota Dorn won n the first round of consolation; and Anderson and Schake advanced in the consolation second round. Jefferson finished the first day in 8th place with 49 points.
Just five Panther wrestlers remained for Saturday’s varsity tournament. Anderson and Schake won their consolation round matches to assure themselves medals. Dominic Davis, Cody St. Clair and Eric Lufkin all lost their semi-final matches. That left the consolation semifinals, where Anderson defeated teammate Davis while St. Clair also won to make the consolation finals.
In the final round, Anderson finished fourth while Davis was sixth. St. Clair won to finish third while Lufkin was defeated and finished sixth. In the last Panther match of the tournament, Schake won by pin to finish fifth.
Jefferson ended the tournament with 78.5 points, good for ninth-place. That capped a long, up-and-down week. The Panthers eighth-place finish in Choteau was their second-best performance ever at that tournament. But injuries are starting to take their toll, and the post-season is just a few weeks away.
Dominick Davis had the JHS Panther Quick Pin of the week, dispatching his opponent in a blistering 9 seconds at Choteau. Two other wrestlers registered 10-second pins. Cody St. Clair, the highest Jefferson finisher in Choteau, was named Panther Wrestler of the week. And Michael Mitchell, who won four matches on his return from injury, was selected as JV Wrestler of the week.
The Panthers have another busy week ahead as they travel to a mixer in Deer Lodge on Jan. 17 and the Class BC Dual Tournament in Conrad on Jan. 18 and Great Falls on Jan. 19.
